Millions of shoppers will hit the high street on Boxing Day as retailers offer the biggest discounts since the 2008 financial crash after a difficult festive season.

Retail experts expect shops to offer discounts topping last year’s average of more than 50%, according to advisory firm Deloitte, as they try to clear clothing that has been left on the shelves as much of Britain enjoyed balmy early winter temperatures.

“Anyone selling coats, jumpers and boots has had a difficult time. There is going to be heavy discounting of those goods after Christmas,” said Andy Lyon, a retail expert at advisory firm PwC.

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“Many retailers didn’t find Black Friday was particularly good and so there is a lot of stuff to get rid of on the high street – we are expecting Boxing Day to be good,” said Joshua Bamfield of the Centre for Retail Research, who is predicting sales will rise 5% on last year to £2.9bn.

“Boxing Day is the UK’s true Black Friday because, like Black Friday in the US, it is a day when most people are off work and are looking for something to do,” said Neil Saunders at retail consultancy Conlumino.

He predicted shoppers would spend £2.74bn, up less than 1% on last year, as bargain-hunters join those spending their Christmas vouchers or cash and people returning unwanted gifts.

Shoppers also left their gift-buying late as many families squeezed their shopping into the final four working days before Christmas Day.

Shopping centres are preparing for early morning queues on Boxing Day as retailers such as Next, Harrods, Jigsaw and the department stores Selfridges and Fenwick, who do not offer discounts before 26 December, finally get out the red stickers.

“Early sales will not deter the determined Boxing Day sales shopper, as the focus will move from gift buying to shoppers treating themselves,”said Myf Ryan, director of marketing for the UK shopping centres owned by Westfield.

Intu, which owns the Trafford Centre in Manchester, Lakeside in Thurrock, Essex, and Merry Hill near Birmingham, said it expected a million shoppers to visit its centres on Boxing Day.

“There will be queues at a number of our sites and it will be an early start for some retailers,” said Gordon McKinnon, operations director of Intu.

Steven Madeley, general manager for St David’s shopping centre in Cardiff, said he was expecting shoppers to spend about £2m at the centre on Boxing Day.

“Hi-tech gadgets and beauty have performed particularly well, and we expect savvy shoppers to get some great deals over the coming days. Some of our stores even closed early on Christmas Eve this year to prepare for a busy Boxing Day,” he said.

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Some stores are putting on special events to try to draw shoppers away from the TV. Harrods has organised a performance by the cast of the West End show Elf the Musical on a stage outside the store, while butlers will be serving hot chocolate to those in the queue. The retailer said it expected to welcome more than a million customers over the four weeks of its sale period.

But online retailers will still be the big winners on Boxing Day. They are bracing for another surge in sales as they take a bigger share of spending this year.

An estimated £856m will be spent at internet stores on Boxing Day, 22% up on last year, according to analysts at Experian and IMRG, the online retailers association.

The traditional start of the post-Christmas sales is now the third-biggest online day of the year behind Black Friday and the following Monday, known as Cyber Monday – when £1.1bn and £968m of goods were ordered, respectively.

While the vast majority of high street stores will be closed on Christmas Day, online tills will have been ringing right the way through the festivities.

Many retailers now start their sales online on Christmas Eve, making Christmas Day a busy online shopping day itself.

An estimated £728m, 11% more than last year, is expected to be spent online as shoppers log on – perhaps using their newly unwrapped tablet computers, laptops and phones – on 25 December.

Nick Jones from Experian said:“The rise of the use of personal connected devices means consumers can now shop for bargains on their mobile or tablet when they have a spare couple of minutes – even if that does mean sneaking away from the festivities and risking the wrath of family members.”